Fractions, Immortality, And Other Confusing Things
by GreenMaureen
Summary: Lyra is a most unusual type of half-blood. When she attempts to visit Camp Half-Blood, everything goes wrong and she ends up joining the Hunters of Artemis. What will happen when she finds out Artemis hasn't been completely honest with her, and that there's more than one way for a demigod to survive? Also, are her parents really the only demigods that have survived to adulthood?


A/N: So, here's my first PJATO fanfiction. This is technically the first fanfic I ever wrote- I started it years ago and recently found the beginning in one of my old notebooks. After struggling to decipher my horrible handwriting, I realized that grammar and dialogue aside, it could actually be turned into a pretty decent story. So, here it is.

As a descendant of Athena, I find that very few things confuse me. I love logic and math… except for fractions.

This year, I tried to convince my grade 7 Pre-Algebra teacher that fractions were unnecessary and that we should all convert to the metric system. She did not take it well, and I almost ended up in detention, which would have been quite traumatic for me.

Now, I know what you're all thinking: "Hey, this kid is related to a god. Demigods are always getting in trouble because they don't know what's happening to them, right?"

Wrong. I have never been confused by my admittedly weird abilities, because my parents explained them to me.

Now, I know you're all thinking: "Parents? But your immortal parent can't live with you. You mean your stepparent knows you're a half-blood?"

Wrong again. I don't have an immortal parent.

Now you're probably wondering, "Then how are you a demigod?"

The answer to that is a bit complicated. I'd better start with a little story.

Many years ago, in the 1950s to be more exact, there was a physicist who lived in Anaheim, California. He was so brilliant that he attracted the attention of Athena herself. They lived together briefly and had a baby girl named Leah.

Around that time, there was a folk singer who lived on the opposite side of the country, in Riverbend, West Virginia. She was very poor but very beautiful, so beautiful that she attracted the attention of Apollo himself. He left her after several weeks, but later that year, she had a baby boy named Raven.

Leah and Raven (who took to calling himself Ray over the years) grew up and eventually both ended up at Camp Half-Blood. They met each other when they were both twelve and became close friends after completing a quest together. Unlike many demigods, they survived to adulthood and chose to live outside of the camp. With the blessings of Apollo and Athena, they bought a house in a suburb of New York and charmed it against monsters, as best they could. They both got jobs-Leah as a calculus professor and Ray as an entertainer-for-hire and occasional artist. They didn't plan to have children, but one came along anyway. They named her Lyra rather than giving her an Ancient Greek name; they wanted her to have a normal childhood.

Leah and Ray taught Lyra about the immortals as soon as she was old enough to keep a secret. They taught her about her ancestry, and how to cope with her battle instincts, and about how to spot a monster and what to do if she did.

They told her about Camp Half-Blood, and that they would bring her there the year she turned twelve. And Lyra had a much easier childhood than other half-bloods.

Well, did that answer your question? I do not have an immortal parent, but I'm still a half-blood: Both of my parents were half immortal; therefore I am half immortal. Would you like me to do out the math? I hate fractions, but I'll do it if that's what it takes to convince you.

Sorry if I sound defensive; I was hazed a bit at camp for not fitting into any one cabin. But wait… I still haven't told you how I ended up at camp.

After Lyra's sixth grade promotion ceremony (where she pulled straight A's, even in English), Leah and Ray didn't take her out to celebrate like other families were doing. They took her home to pack. Lyra rummaged through her snug, aqua-painted room in the attic and filled her tangerine-colored duffel bag with clothes and toiletries. She filled her mother's old tote bag with books (she definitely took after her grandmother) and art supplies (she took after her grandfather as well). Extra space was taken up by nail polish, candy, and stupid magazines (she was still a twelve-year-old girl.)

As Lyra was zipping up her guitar case and agonizing over the fact that she couldn't bring the piano, her father walked in and presented her with his archery bow. It was a gift from Apollo, he explained, and could be transformed into a carved wooden bracelet. Originally, it had been decorated with a sunlike design, but he'd added an owl in honor of Leah and Athena. Lyra was old enough to handle it now, he said. Lyra nodded, but she wasn't sure.

They piled into Ray's beat-up Volkswagen to make the two-hour drive to Long Island. Lyra curled up in the back seat and idly plugged in her portable CD player; she drifted off to sleep with her headphones still on.

She was woken up by a flash that hurt her eyes even through her eyelids. She thought it was just lightning and tried to go back to sleep, but she heard a roar that really didn't sound like thunder and opened her eyes. They were on a desolate stretch of highway, and she didn't know where the roar had come from until she felt the car flip upside down. She screamed and was thankful she hadn't done anything to send her to the Fields of Punishment, and hoped she would just be killed on impact. However, the car wasn't hitting the ground. Still screaming, Lyra looked out the other window and saw a blur of hair and spikes. Of course, it was a monster picking up the car. Before she could move, she saw a blur of silvery things fly past her window. Several hit the car and embedded themselves in the door; more apparently hit the giant hairy thing and it roared again. Then a cloud of strange heavy powder descended on the car, and Lyra realized that they were falling again. She thought she would surely die this time, but the car landed on the pile of powder, front side down. Lyra felt like her stomach was being crushed by the seatbelt, so she panicked and hit the release button. Somehow she managed to get out of the car, and she tumbled to the bottom of the dust pile, where she hit the ground and blacked out.

This is where Lyra ceased to be the person she was before. This is where Lyra became me; where I, Lyra, received a new consciousness.

When I came to, I felt horrible. Well, that's an understatement. My neck hurt. A lot. I felt like I'd gotten punched in the stomach. My throat was raw from screaming. I felt like my entire body was one giant bruise.

I forced my eyes open. There was a strange girl kneeling over me. "Who are you?" I croaked.

"Zoe Nightshade, but that's not important right now. How do you fare?"

"Um, I'm okay. What about my parents?"

She closed her eyes like she didn't want to say what she was about to. The moonlight reflected off the silver circlet she wore in her hair.

"Thy parents… Well, they're in a better place now. I am sure that they will both achieve Elysium."

I tried to sit up. "They're dead?"

She inclined her head. "You have my sympathy."

I couldn't cry. I couldn't believe this. They couldn't be dead. Before I could say anything, an auburn-haired girl around my age appeared in my vision. "I know you'll want to mourn your parents, daughter of my nephew, but before you do, you have an important choice to make."

I closed my eyes. I knew what was coming. This was Artemis. I knew about her, I knew about her Hunters. I had never seriously considered joining them, but now I had no one to stay mortal for. I'd had no true friends at school, and now my parents were gone. Wasn't it more honorable to stay with this band of monster-slayers than to live at a summer camp, singing songs and roasting marshmallows? Here, I could avenge my parents' deaths. I would not grow up and get married without my parents there; I would stay as I was for the rest of my life.

I opened my eyes. "I'll join you."

Artemis raised her eyebrows. "Are you certain? This choice should not be made lightly."

I sat up. "Yes. I'm sure."

Artemis helped me to my feet, and gave me the oath. I expected to feel different as the immortality set in, but I didn't. However, the grief disappeared. Not completely, but it felt as if it had been shoved into a closet in the back of my mind.

"Welcome to the Hunters, Granddaughter of Apollo." The entire silver-clad group surrounded and saluted me. I forced a smile. I'd found a home here, right?


End file.
